For instance, if you’re a blogger who doesn’t really care about traffic, then you shouldn’t use Stumbleupon.

Or if you’re a business and don’t care about free advertising, then you shouldn’t use Stumbleupon.

Lastly, if you’re someone with something to say but don’t want anyone to listen, then you shouldn’t use Stumbleupon.

But if you don’t fit into any of those three categories, you should consider using Stumbleupon to find and share content online.

What is Stumbleupon?

Stumbleupon is two things, really:

Leather Shoes Pumps On ADIKILAV Sale Women's Wide Dress Orange Heels Chunky Peach A social bookmarking site. Like Delicious, Instapaper, and Google Bookmarks, it allows you to save links to articles for later reference and share them. The “Stumble!” toolbar also allows you to randomly discover new articles, based on your interests.

A Powerful Case Study

When I was editing an online magazine, hands down, the most-read article we ever published was a short, critical piece about a woman who stopped “playing church.” The article was a pointed piece about the pretentious attitudes of religious people, especially in so-called “sacred” buildings.

For months, the article hid in obscurity, collecting a couple hundred page views. Then, after I had read some convincing reasons to use StumbleUpon to increase web traffic, I started going through our archived articles and adding them on StumbleUpon.

Shortly after that, our daily traffic increased ten-fold. Thousands of people a day were hitting the article, commenting on it, and a fascinating discussion emerged. Within less than a week of doing this, the article had received over 20,000 page views. And it’s still going.

The culprit: StumbleUpon.

How Did It Happen?

I don’t have a clue. It was random, unpredictable, and magnificent. I tried to replicate again with another article and failed.

Nonetheless, I did some research and saw a trend — sites that utilize Stumbleupon and encourage their visitors to do the same see this kind of random, unpredictable, viral traffic on a much more frequent basis than those that don’t.

Objections to Using Stumbleupon

There are some understandable objections to using Stumbleupon, among which is that the traffic is harder to convert. That’s true.

You should take Stumbleupon traffic with a grain of salt, but don’t completely discount it as worthless, either. I’ve seen how it can convert into long-time readers and advocates and help make your content go viral.

Reasons to Use It: Why Not?

You have something to share — something to say, a cause to promote, an idea to spread. Whether it’s yours or someone else’s, you have a message.

But you need a tool to share it.

Why not tap into the viral power of StumbleUpon, which has produced more fruit for me than DIGG, Delicious, and Reddit combined?

It’s fun, free, and has a proven track record. Just use it wisely. Like anything social, if you focus on yourself, you’ll be disappointed.

Bestselling author and creativity expert Jeff Goins dismantles the myth that being creative is a hindrance to success by revealing how an artistic temperament is, in fact, a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

For centuries, the myth of the starving artist has dominated our culture, seeping into the minds of creative people and stifling their pursuits. But the truth is that the world’s most successful artists did not starve. In fact, they capitalized on the power of their creative strength. In Real Artists Don’t Starve, Jeff Goins debunks the myth of the starving artist by unveiling the ideas that created it and replacing them with fourteen rules for artists to thrive.

Free Updates in Your Inbox

I'm Jeff Goins, the best-selling author of five books including The Art of Work and Real Artists Don't Starve. Every week, I share new tips on creative work. Enter your email below and I'll send you a free book.